Cup dispensing apparatus



July 8, 1941. A. F. MILLER CUP DISPENSING APPARATUS Filed Jan. 30, 19402 Sheets-Sheet 1 INV ENTO R fllbertFMiller 5W v M ATTORNEYS July 8,1941. A. F. MILLER CUP DISPENSING APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan.30, 1940 U 3 g 4 H% 2 111.71 i v V 'lmlmammm INVENTOR fllberl E'Miller8W M ATTORNEYS Patented July 8, 1941 2,248,479 CUP DISPENSING APPARATUSAlbert F. Miller, Flushing, N. Y., assignor to Lily- Tulip Cup Coporation poration of Delaware New York, N. Y., a cor- ApplicationJanuary 30, 1940, Serial No. 316,293

3 Claim.

This invention relates to apparatus for dispensing paper cups or thelike articles.

As is well known, paper cups as used in retail beverage dispensingestablishments, are provided in stacks. A convenient number, for example100, of the cups being thus nested together, are placed in a dispensingdevice such for example as of the type disclosed in the patent toReifsnyder No. 1,703,637, granted February 26, 1929, whereby the cupsmay be dispensed one by one, the remainder of the stack remainingsupported and housed within the device. If the cups are used quiterapidly, it is necessary for the distributor to service such devicesquite frequently to refill the same with cups, or else the proprietor ofthe establishment must keep on hand additional stacks of cups,'which issometimes inconvenient and the extra supplies of cups may be exposed toinjury or dirt pending their insertion in the dispensing device.

With the present invention a dispensing apparatus is provided in suchform as to contain a plurality of the stacks of cups which may all beinserted at one time, or the device may be conveniently refilled with asufllcient number of cups at any time so that the person distributingthe cups, has to service the device only at relatively infrequentintervals. And meanwhile the whole supply of cups is kept enclosed'andprotected in the device and the retailer does not need to be concernedwith opening and refilling the device with additional stacks of cups, orwith the storage of additional cups elsewhere in his place of business.The invention also provides an apparatus from which cups may bedispensed one at a time in succession respectively from each of theseveral stacks of cups in the device, so that all of the remainingstacks in the device may be of uniform height, evenly balanced, and ofattractive appearance. The apparatus is particularly well adapted fordependable use with automatic or semi-automatic beverage dispensingequipment and will insure that each time the equipment is operated, asingle cup will be dispensed in proper position to receive the liquid.Since the several stacks of cups in the device are used automatically insuccession, no special mechanism or attention of the operator isrequired to shift from one stack to another, as would be the case ifeach stack were completely used before using the next stack.

Various further and more specific objects, features and advantages willclearly appear from the detailed description given below, taken inconnection with the accompanying drawings which form a part of thisspecification and illustrate by way of example preferred forms of theinvention.

The invention consists in such novel features, arrangements andcombinations of parts as may be shown and described in connection withthe apparatus herein disclosed.

In the drawings,

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a preferred form of apparatus embodying theinvention;

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of the same;

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view;

Fig. 4 is a view taken substantially along the line 4-4 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4a is a perspective view showing certain details of theconstruction:

Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken substantially along the line 5-5 ofFig. 1; and

Fig. 6 is a plan view partially broken away of an alternative embodimentof the apparatus.

Referring to Fig. 1 of the drawings in further detail, a plurality ofpaper cup dispensing devices are shown respectively at II), H, I! andI3, each of such devices being adapted to contain and support a verticalstack of cups nested together in upright position, for example cups ineach stack, positioned in a manner such as indicated in Fig. 3 at H and15. Each of the dispensing devices ID to l3 inclusive may for example beconstructed and may operate per se in a manner similar to the dispensingdevice of the above mentioned patent, but with certain exceptionshereinafter explained. Also as indicated in Fig. 1, these dispensingdevices are preferably so shaped that they may be compactly positionedside by side around a circle or otherwise, in such a manner that thedevices may be moved in a circuitous path whereby the lower portion ofeach stack of cups in succession passes the point of discharge.

As shown in Fig. 3, the dispensing devices It to l3 inclusive may all besupported upon a gear wheel as at l6, secured to a rotatable post l1,which in turn may rotate on ball bearings as at I8 around a stub shaftl9 fixed to a supporting plate 20. The supporting plate 20 may be formedwith a discharge orifice as at 2! at which a depending outlet .-onduit22 is fixed for guiding the cups either to a desired position in theautomatic dispensing equipment or to any other desired point. As shownin Figs. 1 to 3, the periphery of the gear wheel It may be provided withgear teeth as at 23, adapted to be engaged by a pinion as at 24, whichpinion may be either operated by a hand crank or by a power driven shaftas at 26 -'in case the device is to be operated in connection withautomatic dispensing equipment. Thus a turret-like construction isprovided for rotatably mounting the several stacks cups so that thelower portion of each stack in succession may be brought to a podtionfor discharging a cup through the outlet II. The rotation of this turretstructure may be step by step, as the cups are required, or continuousin case a continuous series oi cups are to be filled automatically.

While in the particular construction shown, tour of the dispensing unitsas at it to it inelusive are illustrated, it will be apparent that agreater or lesser plurality may be provided for operation in the samemanner as herein explained.

Each of the dispensing units may comprise an upstanding tubular glassmember as at 26, closed at its top in the usual manner, these membersbeing slidably removable from supporting frames as at 21 to permitinsertion of stacks of cups. As shown in Fig. 5, a pair of cam membersas at 28 and 28 may be mounted for rotation on horizontal axesrespectively at eachside of the flange or the lowermost cup oi eachstack. These cam members may be housed in a suitable supportingstructure as at 30, mounted in turn upon the gear wheel I 8. such wheelbeing formed with suitable apertures as at II for receiving annularflanges as at I! formed at the bottom of the members 30.

As shown more clearly in Fig. 4, the cam members 2| and 29 at one sideof the device, may have sector gears as at 33 and 34 amxed thereto. Foroperating these sector gears a longitudinally slidable bar It may beprovided, having two sets of rack teeth as at 36 and 31 for respectivelyengaging the teeth of sector gears 83 and 34. Thus when the bar 35, forexample, in Fig. 4 slides toward the left, the cam member 28 as viewedin Fig. 5 will be rotated in a clockwise diat a position to extend alongthe region adjacent the cup outlet 2!. That is, this cam may be ad-.iusted at such a position that it will cause each of the cup dispensingunits to actuate and dispense a cup from the corresponding stack whensuch stack reaches a position over the cup outlet, and so that the cupwill be freed to fall thereh ou h for example, by the action of the cam46, such rection, and the cam 29 in a counter clockwise directionsimultaneously in such manner as to engage the rim of the lowermost cupand separate such cup from the stack, while continuing to support theremainder of the stack. Movement of the bar toward the right, which maybe accomplished by a restoring spring as at 38, will result in restoringthe cams 28 and It to their former positions ready for the nextactuation to dispense the next cup from the stack. Further details as tothe construction and mode of operation of these portions of theapparatus per so may be had by reference to the above mentioned PatentNo. 1,703,837. However, instead of operatingsaid bar 35 byapush rodasinsaidpatent,-

the same may be preferably operated for the purposes of the presentinvention by forming along the bar an additional series of rack teeth asat 30. These teeth are adapted to engage the teeth of a sector gear asat (Fig. 4a). The latter gear may be rotatably mounted on a shaft as at4i, carried in supporting lugs as at 42 and 43 (Fig. 3), these lugsbeing formed-on a removable cover plate for the mechanism of Fig. 4. Anactuating lever as at 44 may be fixed in respect to the sector gear 40and provided at its outer end with a rotatable member 45 or otherantifriction device for engaging a cam 43. The cam 46 which is morefully shown in Fig. 1, may be normally flxed in position althoughadjustable for endwise movement, as by screws 41 through slots as at 40,into supporting posts as at 4!.

ThecamliasshowninFigJmaybemounted cup will first fall on to thesupporting plate 20'. Then as the turret structure revolves, suchseparated or partially separated cup will be slid along the supportingplate by the lower cup of the remaining stack, until it arrives at theoutlet 2i, whereupon it will be discharged. In some cases thisarrangement may insure a more rapid dispensing operation in response tothe operation of the turret structure. and will also render unnecessaryany precise adJustment of the pomtion of cam I, or readjustment thereofafter any of the parts may have become worn.

While the invention has been described indetailasusedwithunitsoithetypedisclosed in the above mentionedReiisnyder patent, it will be understood that various features of theinvention may also be used in connection with other types of units fordispensing cups or the like, for example such as shown in the patent toNina, No. 1,272,701, granted July 16. 1918.

While the invention has been described in detail with respect toparticular preferred examples, it will be understood by those skilled inthe art after understanding the invention that various changes andmodifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope ofthe invention, and it is intended therefore in the appended claims tocover all such changes and modifications.

What is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. Apparatus for dispensing paper cups or the like, comprising asupporting structure for a plurality of side-by-side and generallyvertical stacks of the nested cups, said supporting structure beingconstructed for moving each of the stacks in a circuitous path insuccession past a discharge point, with the lowermost remaining cupssuspended in upright podtion from beneath each stack, a mechanism at thebase of each stack for sufliciently separating upon each actuation, anindividual cap from the stack, so that it is free to fall from thestack. said mechanisms each having a protruding operating lever, and cammeans adjacent said path for eng ing and operating said levers insuccession as the stacks advance past the latter means.

2. Apparatus for dispensing p per cups or the like, comprising astructure for supporting a pinrality of generally vertical stacks of thenested cups, the stacks being arranged around a circle, a gear wheel onsaid structure, concentric with such circle and having its teeth at theperiphery of the structure, means for eng ing said wheeltorotatethestructuraamechanismatthebase of each stack for suiiicientlyseparating upor each actuation, an individual cup from the stack, sothat it is free to fall from the stack, and means for actuating saidmechanisms in succession as each corresponding stack passes apredetermined position on its path. 4

3. In apparatus of the character described, the combination of acontainer for a stack of nested cups, horizontally swiveled devicesarranged on opposite sides of the cups for engaging the cups to dispensethem, and means for synchronously operating said devices comprising abar slidingly arranged at one side of the axis of said container andhaving an upper rack member geared to one of said devices and a lowerrack meinber geared to the other device, said rack members beingrespectively above and below the axes of said devices, a spring forautomatically returning said bar to its normal position, an additionalrack along said bar, a sector gear for engaging the latter rack tolongitudinally move said bar and thereby actuate the apparatus, andmeans connected to said sector gear and protruding therefrom foroperating same.

' ALBERT F. MILLER.

